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In India, my forces get into a scrap with Japanese CAs looking to bombard Colombo. I don't lose any ships, though CL Endracht is damaged to a degree that will require her to head home; John most likely loses 2 DDs and one of his retiring CAs takes a further torp that shouldn't sink her, but send her to port for a bit. Not sure what to do here, John has a BB force at Koggala and that could very well be the port that he has AKE's at re-arming some of his ships. Might try a port strike there. Colombo port and my BBs are re-armed. I'd guess John will attempt another nav strike and try to sink my BBs with other fast surface vessels (CAs, BBs, BCs, etc.). I don't really mind if he wants to keep scrapping here; it keeps forces from coming down to reinforce the South Pacific.

All of John's airfields on Ceylon are at or close to 100% airfield damage. I have another, untried BB force (the slower BB Resolution) at Trivandrum. I also have a few more DDs and a CA that will be ready to come down as reinforcement from Bombay in a few days.

Things are looking up when your old, slow BBs get in a knife fight at night with IJN CAs and don't get torpedoed! Too bad your BBs didn't land any major blows on the CAs. A couple of penetrating 15" hits will normally cripple a CA and make it an easy target thereafter.

Channel your inner Nemo, young padawan.

Is it me or is this going into India and Ceylon a GIGANTIC MISTAKE?

What do I know, I am a civvie, I barely know a broom so not good navy material

I've fallen a bit behind, as I've been under the weather this week. You may have answered these questions ad nauseum, but just in case:

1. The map seems to show no enemy units at Colombo? If that's true, what is your assessment of John's intentions there?

2. This looks like the Guadalcanal moment of your game. You know this, but use all resources and risk every loss in getting supply to Colombo so that you can park maximum fighters there to provide CAP for every ship available. Don't let him pull his arse out of the fire. He's burning a candle at both ends (he does that occasionally). It's turning sour for him, it seems.

Looks like your CAP fighters and your SAGs picked up a nice chunk of exp. this turn. Those sub hits should make John feel some angst about sending his big ships forward.

A few thoughts on confirming the presence of and dealing with AKEs.

Reconning his bases may reveal a list of ship types in port, however inaccurate and at a minimum cause an anchor icon to display.

If the airfields are trashed, take a break from hitting them and switch to port attacks.

ORIGINAL: Timotheus

Channel your inner Nemo, young padawan.

Is it me or is this going into India and Ceylon a GIGANTIC MISTAKE?

What do I know, I am a civvie, I barely know a broom so not good navy material

You don't have to be a military expert to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Timotheus

Channel your inner Nemo, young padawan.

Is it me or is this going into India and Ceylon a GIGANTIC MISTAKE?

What do I know, I am a civvie, I barely know a broom so not good navy material

You don't have to be a military escort to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

I've never accepted the validity of that axiom.

After all, it worked out pretty well for Genghis Khan.

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Timotheus

Channel your inner Nemo, young padawan.

Is it me or is this going into India and Ceylon a GIGANTIC MISTAKE?

What do I know, I am a civvie, I barely know a broom so not good navy material

You don't have to be a military expert to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

I've never accepted the validity of that axiom.

After all, it worked out pretty well for Genghis Khan.

Didn't he have to abandon efforts to conquer China and India to conquer all the weaker nations to his west?

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy



You don't have to be a military expert to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

I've never accepted the validity of that axiom.

After all, it worked out pretty well for Genghis Khan.

Didn't he have to abandon efforts to conquer China and India to conquer all the weaker nations to his west?

India

It looks like he got all of China missed India https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo ... re_map.gif

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: HansBolter





I've never accepted the validity of that axiom.

After all, it worked out pretty well for Genghis Khan.

Didn't he have to abandon efforts to conquer China and India to conquer all the weaker nations to his west?

India

It looks like he got all of China missed India https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo ... re_map.gif

Thanks for the info. I thought I had read that the Great Wall succeeded in keeping out invaders, but GK may have slipped around the end, or used his undead dragon to break through!

The Great Wall was designed not to keep invaders out but to make it harder for raiders to leave with their loot. Conquerors did not necessarily have to leave with loot.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
You don't have to be a military expert to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

Unless you are Asian [:D]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
You don't have to be a military expert to understand the axiom: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!". [:-]

Unless you are Asian [:D]

Well, no one has conquered Asia completely and kept all their gains. It is still a hodge-podge of territorial disputes based on temporary possession of areas and each side can point to a time in the past when they controlled it. The most stable borders seem to be where natural features like rivers and mountain ranges form the boundary. Unfortunately, wars do not always end at natural boundaries.

Still waiting on the next turn. Update from John:

Hey Sir. Turn got to yesterday after we left for a wedding in the mountains. Came home dead beat and tired so nothing last night. We now have LaSalle Day going on so I don’t know when I’ll get to this. Just wanted to let you know!

Double Post. Funny. Anyways, this turn should hopefully see me mostly pull back from my landings to refuel, get transports loaded for PM, and replenish my carrier air wings (I have replenishment CVE's moving up). I think one transport unit is staying behind at Milne to finish offloading supplies and then should follow, so it is at risk if John tries another nav strike. In India, I split my forces at Colombo into a BB/DD force and a CA/CL/DD force, with the damaged ships retiring to repair. I send in my other BB force from Trivandrum.

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: HansBolter





I've never accepted the validity of that axiom.

After all, it worked out pretty well for Genghis Khan.

Didn't he have to abandon efforts to conquer China and India to conquer all the weaker nations to his west?

India

It looks like he got all of China missed India https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo ... re_map.gif

Good graphic. Looks like a civil engineer made it, functional and effective even if lacking the spit and polish!
Check the year that Genghis died against the graphic, looks like he conquered to the west and his successor(s) conquered China.
Off on a tangent, a few years back I saw a Chinese language movie that had the Wu nation fighting the Han nation, now the populations have merged into the city of Wuhan. So many layers of history in Asia that I know very little about.

May 3rd, 1943

Japanese DDs are brutal. My slow BB force reacts to a small group of DDs before my cruiser or other battleship forces do. The old, slow Resolution goes down in a hail of torpedoes...for one Japanese DD in exchange. Not a good ratio.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Colombo at 29,48, Range 1,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Walrus II: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Samidare, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kawakaze
DD Hatsuharu
DD Wakaba, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
BB Resolution, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CL Leander
CL Mauritius
CL Caradoc
CLAA Van Heemskerck
DE Hotspur
DE Inconstant
DD Rathburne, Shell hits 1
DD Delphy
DD Woodbury
DD Oreleck

In good news, both Milne Bay and Tagula Island fall today.

My forces head back to Rockhampton where I will reload my APAs (and some LSIs and LSTs) with the invasion force for Port Moresby. This will be followed by Horn Island and Gove, but John has heavily reinforced Horn. I might just bypass it and heavily bombard it to put it out of action and maroon the forces there. Lol.

I'd be curious to hear perspectives on the importance of holding Horn Island. It seems easier to blow it up and forget about it, but I lack experience.